The Force Skeptics Page

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster
at your side, kid."

— Han Solo, outspoken skeptic of the Force

The Jedi Knights are known for their supposed ability to perform
"miracles." They can influence others' thoughts with a wave of their
hand, use a slender light saber to deflect blaster bolts with their eyes
closed, jump great heights in full gravity, move objects without touching
them, see into the future, and do many other things that normal people
can't. Or so they claim. They attribute these "powers" to an
energy field they call the Force.

The Force supposedly cannot be detected by any device that has yet been built
anywhere in the Galaxy. Furthermore, the only people who can detect the
Force are those few "gifted" individuals who are "sensitive" to it.
Aptitude with the Force is supposed to correlate with the concentration in
ones cells of midichlorians (the organelles that evolved symbiotically from
purple bacteria to provide chemical energy to cells through glucose
combustion) — yet, many people with high midichlorian counts show no
indication of having "powers" until the Order of the Jedi gets hold of them
and "trains" them.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you have been bamboozled. The Force is a fiction
that exists only in the minds of deluded Jedi practitioners. The
so-called "Jedi Powers" are nothing more than cheap stage-magic tricks that
anyone can learn and which violate no known laws of physics.
The Masters of the Jedi Order are charlatans, preying upon your gullibility
and demanding your blind respect in return.

The Jedi Religion

The Jedi religion teaches all of its practitioners that the Force is
real. They are encouraged, repeatedly, to "feel" the Force "flowing"
through them. Belief in the Force is an absolute requirement for all
Jedi — Jedi must never, ever question the Force's existence.
Indeed, no recorded account exists of any Jedi — not even a newly-minted
Padawan apprentice — questioning the existence of the Force.

Jedi "Master" Yoda, who can't even
put together an English sentence correctly.

The highest-ranking members of the Jedi Order are called Jedi "Masters"; Yoda
is the most well-known, and the most notorious, of these Jedi Masters.
His followers treat him with the highest, unquestioning reverence, gobbling up
his homespun wisdom as though it were manna from heaven. He and other
Jedi Masters are, for all practical purposes, living messiahs, religious
leaders that can quell the hearts of their agitated flock or drive them into
an impassioned frenzy capable of tearing apart an Empire.

It cannot be overemphasized that this Cult of Personality expects blind
obedience and unquestioning faith from its adherents. The fact that
these fanatics are seen by outsiders as the "protectors of peace and justice
throughout the Galaxy" makes them particularly dangerous. Thus far,
the thousand-generation-old Order of the Jedi has not abused this trust, but
all it would take would be one power-mad Jedi Master with the desire to lead
his followers in a bloody coup, and this "benevolent" Order could turn into a
gang of holy "crusaders" overnight.

Of more pressing interest, however, is the fact that the Jedi religion
is supposed to be a religion. It is not a science. The true
nature of the Force is supposed to have evaded scientific scrutiny for the
last thousand generations. If this were truly the case, though, we should
expect the Force to behave like the "Holy Spirit" or the "soul" from the more
ancient religions: i.e. as something that's not only completely undetectable,
but which doesn't influence the physical universe in any way. But the
Jedi claim otherwise. They claim miraculous powers that do
affect the physical universe.

And there, scientific scrutiny is appropriate, despite the Jedi's
whining protests to the contrary.

It behooves us, then, to scrutinize the various powers claimed by Jedi
practitioners, and to see if there isn't a more mundane explanation for these
so-called powers that doesn't require ad-hoc hypotheses like "the Force" to
understand them. I shall now do just this, by addressing the claims and
showing the flaws in each of the claimed Jedi powers, one at a time.

Influencing the "Weak Minded"

This simple power is one of the easiest to amuse crowds with. A typical
use of this power might go something like this:

Victim: Let me see your identification.
Jedi: [waving one hand] You don't need to see his
identification.
Victim: We don't need to see his identification.

At the outset, this power seems quite remarkable: A disagreeable passerby can
be made to bend to your will, simply by waving your hand — assuming you
also know how to "use the Force" properly. However, this power has
failed to stand up to controlled tests. Every single public
demonstration of this power has involved the Jedi selecting the victim himself
from out of a crowd. We have no reason not to suspect that the victim
might be a "plant", someone to whom the Jedi has paid a few Imperial Credits
and who has agreed to act like the Jedi's "spell" was working.

Han Solo, champion of reason.
He's flown from one side of this Galaxy to the other. He's seen a lot of
strange stuff, but he's never seen anything to make him believe there's one
all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy
field that controls his destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks
and nonsense.

Certainly, there have been notorious cases where this so-called power has
failed, such as in the Qui-Gong/Watto incident on Tatooine during the first
Naboo conflict. Jedi are quick to explain that this power only works on
the "weak minded," thus giving themselves the ultimate escape hatch: every time
a Jedi gets caught using this power and having it fail, he can always claim
that the victim wasn't "weak minded."

Has anyone ever tested the mental "weakness" of any of these victims
immediately after the Jedi put on such a show? No. How does one
make an objective test for whether someone is "weak minded" or not?
Every such test that has been attempted, and which has shown a "weak minded"
person who is immune to a Jedi's mind-influencing power or a "strong minded"
person whom the Jedi have successfully victimized, has been dismissed by the
Jedi as "biased" or "inaccurate" or "based on an incorrect model of mental
strength." Yet the Jedi themselves are conspicuously silent on what
qualities make someone "weak minded" or not — except, of course, that
everyone who falls for the Jedi's mind-influencing power is retroactively
deemed to be "weak minded." How convenient for the Jedi.

One reasonable-sounding hypothesis that has been proposed for this Jedi power
is that, either naturally or with some artificial help, Jedi produce some kind
of pheromone that makes anyone who inhales it particularly susceptible to
suggestion. The waving of the Jedi's hand would help to waft this
pheromone through the air. It's an interesting hypothesis, and one that
bears greater investigation. It is especially suspicious that the Jedi
forbid, and deliberately confiscate, any chemical-sensing apparatus brought in
to one of their shows, with the claim that such devices cause "a disturbance in
the Force."

Seeing the future

The Jedi's claim that they can see the future is by far the most ludicrous of
their claims. Jedi are quick to point out that their view of the future
is merely of a "possible" future, not of a definite future, and that in fact
the very act of knowing the possible future may cause them to change it.
Furthermore, the predictions of the future are always extremely vague.
When asked direct questions about the future, Jedi Master Yoda has given
notoriously evasive answers, such as:

"Difficult to see. Always in motion the future is."

Or:

"Clouded this boy's future is."

Tell me, Jedi: How is this "power" any more useful than the ability that any
ordinary, non-Force-using person has to make forecasts of future events based
on what he knows about the present? Your batting average isn't any higher
than that of the average population. What does that say about your
future-seeing "power"?

Telekinesis

Lifting small rocks and stacking them one on top of the other while standing
on your head, hurling military 'droids across the room, summoning your light
saber to your side, making a chance cube land on blue — are these really
impressive feats of mind-over-matter, or just common stage trickery?

Repulsor-lift technology has become surprisingly cheap and compact.
Common out-of-work stage magicians, performing on the streetcorners of
Coruscant for hand-outs, have been known to employ miniature repulsorlifts
hidden under their robes and cloaks to make objects appear to levitate.
The Jedi claim to be "above" the need for such trickery, and I'm sure many of
the more sincere padawans actually believe in the telekinetic powers of their
masters. But has anyone ever checked? Has anyone ever searched
a Jedi for hidden repulsorlifts? No. Anyone who's gotten close
enough to perform such a search has gotten his hand chopped off with a light
saber.

The resemblance between Jedi telekinetic "powers" and common repulsorlift
parlor tricks is remarkable. Jedi claim that the size of an object is
irrelevant to their telekinetic powers, and that any object, no matter how
large, can be lifted with the help of the Force. Yet, wonder of wonders,
almost all demonstrations of Jedi telekinetic power have been on small
objects like light sabers and milk crates and small rocks — all of which
are within the weight capacity of a cheap miniature repulsorlift.

The one exception to this has been Yoda's demonstration of lifting an entire
X-Wing fighter out of a swamp on Dagobah. An X-Wing fighter is certainly
too heavy for a miniature repulsorlift to carry. But Yoda is known for
his smooth-talking wiles, and it would be a grave mistake to assume that
someone as crafty as this notorious Jedi Master didn't have a trick or two up
his short sleeve. What trick did he pull? Well, isn't it
obvious? An X-Wing fighter has its own built-in repulsor
lifts! These built-in repulsors are what allow the X-Wing to
hover-taxi into position for takeoff. (Military footage of the initial
stages of the assault on the first Death Star at Yavin show this "repulsorlift
taxiing" repeatedly.) Yoda's message of the Force isn't for the educated
critic, it's for the gullible layman who may be ignorant of the fact that
X-Wing fighers have their own high-powered repulsorlifts. While Yoda was
standing on the shore and stretching out one hand toward the X-Wing fighter,
his other hand (which the casual viewer would have been too distracted to
notice) was thumbing a remote-control device that turned the fighter's
repulsorlifts on. Voilá! A "miracle"!

Speaking from beyond the grave

Some Jedi Masters — and even a few Jedi apprentices — have
reported hearing the voices of dead Jedi Masters giving them advice.
Luke Skywalker, the hero of the Battle of Yavin, claimed to have heard the
voice of recently-departed Jedi master Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi during his
stressful attack run on the Death Star. Later, while near death on the
frozen wastes of Hoth, he thought he saw Kenobi standing there in the snow
telling him to go to Dagobah and study under Yoda.

Needless to say, Jedi practitioners assert that only a Jedi can talk to a dead
Jedi. Yet, common folk report hearing the voices and seeing the shadowy
forms of their dearly departed quite frequently. Jedi assert that these
visions, when experienced by non-Jedi, are nothing more than waking dreams
combined with wishful thinking.

But why should we believe that a Jedi's communion with the dead is the genuine
article, while a non-Jedi's communion with the dead is an hallucination?
What makes the Jedi's experience any more credible than the non-Jedi's?
Nothing. This is just one more example of the Jedi Order claiming
the inherent superiority of its members. Remember, ladies and gentlemen,
these are the people to whom you have entrusted the guardianship of
peace and justice in the Galaxy!

Deflecting blaster bolts with a light saber, with your eyes closed

Interposing the slender beam of a light saber between yourself and an
equally-narrow bolt from a blaster is a remarkable feat. It hearkens back
to the days of the four-color comics, when Wonder Woman deflected bullets
(high-speed metallic projectiles fired from a slugthrower) with only her two
indestructable bracelets and her Amazonian reflexes. Jedi attribute this
skill to the Force, which supposedly lets them see where the blaster bolts will
be an instant into the future, and which also supposedly "controls their
actions but also obeys their commands."

Jedi train for years with their light sabers. By the time a member of the
Order attains the rank of Jedi Knight, he will handle his light saber so
naturally that the weapon is essentially an extension of his own body.
To one so well-trained, blocking an incoming blaster bolt — which, as we
all know from watching films of blaster bolts, actually moves more slowly than
a bullet — would be like blocking a well-thrown pebble with ones own
arm. It's a remarkable feat, but it would not require any special
sensitivity to the Force. Non-Jedi who, according to the Jedi Order, have
no aptitude whatsoever with the Force, have been known to pick up the
blaster-bolt-deflection skill with sufficient training and motivation.

In an effort to "prove" to the non-believers that the Force is responsible for
their ability to deflect blaster bolts, Jedi have been known to put on shows
where they place small levitating "Remotes" in the air near them and wear
helmets with opaque blast shields covering their eyes. They then set
these Remotes to fire blaster bolts at them at seemingly random intervals and
from seemingly random directions, with the power setting low enough that a
stray bolt will only sting them a little if they fail to deflect it. They
then proceed to intercept blaster bolts from these Remotes with a skill that
makes the onlooker believe that they can almost see the Remotes without their
eyes.

But good against Remotes is one thing. Good against the living?
That's something else. If the Jedi ability to "see" the Remote with their
eyes covered and only the Force to guide them is so central to the Jedi's
repertoire, then why do Jedi engaged in combat against opponents with real
blasters always deflect the bolts with their eyes open?

The answer is, Remotes aren't completely random. With enough experience,
a person can get used to the patterns used by blaster-firing Remotes
sufficiently that he can anticipate where it will go and when it will shoot
next. He might not even be aware that he has memorized this pattern, and
will be pleasantly surprised to discover that he has placed his light saber
in just the right location to deflect the next blaster bolt based on instinct
alone. He might even attribute this mysterious reflex to the Force, thus
reinforcing his belief in something that isn't there.

Furthermore, a Remote makes a distinctive hissing sound as it scuttles through
the air, allowing a blind person to hear where it is and when it moves.
This, too, will help give the Jedi with his eyes covered enough of a clue to be
able to deflect the bolts fired by the Remote. No precognition or other
mysterious "outside help" is required. The Force need exist nowhere
outside the Jedi's own imagination for his blaster-bolt-deflecting skill to
work.

Great vertical leaps

Even in full gravity, Jedi have been observed jumping upward as high as 30
feet. An impressive feat, to be sure — until you remember that
these same people usually perform demonstrations of telekinesis during the same
show. The same repulsorlift hidden in the Jedi's robes, which can
levitate a rock or an R2 unit, can also nullify the weight of the person
holding the repulsorlift. A Jedi who turned such a repulsorlift on
himself for a fraction of a second, while jumping with his normal leg muscles,
would easily perform a "super leap."

"Dark" Jedi powers

According to the Jedi Order, a few Jedi have "turned to the Dark Side."
These "Dark Jedi" or "Sith" supposedly use the Force for evil.
Personally, I suspect that the label "Dark Jedi" is being applied to former
members of the Jedi order who have done one of two things:

Quit the Jedi Order so that they could bamboozle people with their
charlatanry without the Order getting their "cut", or

Threatened to go public with the fact that the Jedi Order is a sham,
thereby forcing the Jedi to declare them to be "evil" and conveniently hack
them down in a light saber battle before the Order's gimmicks and tricks can
be exposed.

Obviously, those "Dark Jedi" who fall into the second category have been
silenced, so we'll never get to hear their side of the story. I suppose
some living Jedi could always use his speak-with-a-dead-Jedi powers to
communicate with him ;-) , but of course I'd never believe a word of such a
"channeling."

The Dark Jedi who fall into the first category, however, typically change their
names to something that begins with "Darth," perhaps as a catchy stage
name. They've gone on record as having "powers" equal to those of a
"true" Jedi Knight, plus a couple of powers of their own that they use to spice
up their repertoire of parlor tricks.

Thus far, two Dark Jedi powers have come to light (so to speak) which merit
attention:

Telekinetic choking, and

Purple lightning bolts that come from their fingertips.

The first of these two Dark Jedi powers, telekinetic choking, was practiced
most extensively by Anakin Skywalker (more popularly known by his stage name of
Darth Vader). While on board the first Death Star, Anakin held up two of
his fingers in front of his face in the classic "I am crushing your head, crush
crush crush!" manner of Kids in the Hall, and his victim, Admiral Motti,
suddenly found his airway so constricted that he couldn't breathe. Later,
on board an Imperial Super Star Destroyer, he caused two of his admirals to
die, or at least pass out, from lack of oxygen without even having to raise his
fingers — one of whom he was merely watching on his video monitor!

Anakin "Darth Vader" Skywalker, we must remember, was a very charismatic
figure. Imperial troops were terrified of him, and knew of his reputation
with the Dark Side of the Force. In the presence of such imposing
figures, people have been known to fly into hysterics or faint when the
charismatic person convinces them to do so. The "telekinetic" choking
that Darth Vader's victims experienced was nothing more than
Voodoo! They believed they were being choked, so they really did
choke, even to the point of passing out. Admiral Motti was more skeptical
than the rest ("Don't try and frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord
Vader!"), which was why Vader had to deliberately raise his fingers and make
the choking gesture with him. The other two admirals were already True
Believers, and only needed a threatening look from the so-called "Dark
Lord of the Sith" to convince them that their tracheae were obstructed.

The second of the two Dark Jedi powers, shooting purple lightning bolts from
ones fingertips, was practiced most extensively by Emperor Palpatine.
(It is sad that the leader of the entire Empire was such a fervent believer in
the non-existent Force; such beliefs within the Old Republic's leadership have
always eroded the Separation of Church and State whenever they reared their
ugly heads.) Palpatine shot such lightning bolts from his fingertips at
another Jedi, Luke Skywalker, during the siege on the second Death Star.
The young Jedi Knight may have been taught how to parry blaster bolts with his
light saber, but Jedi "Master" Yoda had failed to instruct him in how to parry
lightning bolts. The electric jolts nearly killed him.

Electrostatic discharges, in the form or purple lightning bolts, are a common
feature of some power generation systems. The twin engines on podracers,
for example, shoot purple lightning bolts between each other to keep themselves
synchronized and to supplement each others' power sources. If a Jedi
Knight can keep a repulsorlift hidden in his long robes for the purpose of
performing tricks of telekinesis, there's no reason why a Dark Jedi like
Palpatine couldn't also keep an electrostatic discharge generator hidden in
his robes for the purpose of putting on a deadly purple light show.&nbsp If
the electrodes are positioned correctly, he could make the corona discharge
appear to come right out of the tips of his fingers.

Conclusion

Despite their claims of great powers, the members of the Jedi Order can do
nothing that can't be accomplished by common stage magicians using mundane
props. Darth Vader's sad devotion to that ancient religion did not help
him conjure up the stolen data tapes, or give him clairvoyance enough to find
the Rebels' hidden fortress. The existence of the Force has never been
objectively demonstrated and, conveniently enough for the Jedi, supposedly
"cannot" be objectively demonstrated. One simply is expected to
"believe."

Count me among the likes of Han Solo, Admiral Motti, and the other brave
skeptics that aren't convinced by handwaving and impressive-sounding
words. The Jedi are the ones claiming that the Force is "real." It
is up to the Jedi to provide the double-blind trials, the controlled
experiments, the conclusive evidence that their extraordinary claims
have any merit whatsoever.

Go back to my main page containing other fine products
of my, ahem, creativity.